SYLVANIA—The Department of Biology & Health Sciences of Lourdes College received a $45,000 grant from the Great Lakes Innovative Stewardship through Education Network (GLISTEN). 

Through the grant, Lourdes is to lead the “Green Water/Gray Economy Project,” which establishes the Western Lake Erie cluster for GLISTEN. Other participants in this project include Defiance College, Owens Community College, Eastern Michigan University, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments and the Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association.

Lourdes is to implement area-wide service-learning initiatives that address algal overgrowth in the Western Basin due to increasing concentrations of phosphates in each of the basin watersheds. Additionally, biology and health sciences students from Lourdes are to be given new opportunities to participate in field experiences that enhance their area of study.

“The Great Lakes bioregion contains 20 percent of the world’s fresh water and 95 percent of North America’s fresh water,” says Notre Dame Sister Marya Czech, assistant professor of biology at Lourdes and cluster coordinator for Lake Erie West. “Through education and public outreach, our cluster will encourage stewardship of Lake Erie through biology, ecology and microbiology courses.”

GLISTEN is a three-year project harnessing the expertise and innovation of college faculty and undergraduate students in eight states and two Canadian provinces to promote stewardship of the Great Lakes.